As in the anteroom – a pilgrim that makes up the awaiting of the main piece

Life Imitates Art. Again.

With Chelsea only managing a draw against the Zebras overnight, United could have won it without the tension at Ewood Park on Saturday. I guess that’s all academic now – had United lost, Chelsea might have played differently, perhaps not starting with El Toro – the expensive Lamborghini aka Fernando Torres – which doesn’t always hit the mark. United didn’t lose, the League is in the bag for the 19th time and it is for Kenny Dalglish to respond. They lost to Spurs overnight, which was somewhat halted their momentum to finish off the season on a high but that shouldn’t affect their approach next season and I think they have all the ingredients to mount a serious challenge.

The tragedy though is the relegation of West Ham. I have always had a soft spot for the Hammers. I never harbored any thoughts of ever following any other club but if I did, either Hammer or Villa would have been distant seconds. I mean, how can a club which churned out players like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Trevor Brooking of yesteryear and contemporary players like Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole meet such a fate? Granted they continue to lose their best players in the transfer market but somehow they have always been managed prudently and wisely and the Premier League will be the poorer without the pedigree of this club.

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Tress and I spent yesterday afternoon at the Doncaster Westfield shopping centre. I cannot believe how a supposedly pleasurable activity zapped me so completely dry. We were there straight after church – after a stopover at the Malaya Inn at High Street Doncaster for lunch – and didn’t get back till about 5.30pm. Kiddo was in the city in Melbourne University for a lecture and we picked her up close to 6. We got home just before 6, and for the rest of the evening we just sat in front of the television and got ready to bed – we went to bed at 9.30, a rare but great luxury. We were at the shopping place with a few ladies from church who wanted to get winter coats in Myer which were on sale, and I was mostly playing with a little 1-year old girl. Her mum’s a stylish fashion aficionado and I was gauging if she picked up her mum’s taste by putting fierce looking ladies’ winter boots on her tiny feet, which made her laugh. I tried scarves on her too and it worked as well, so I think she will end up like her mum. I still cannot understand however, why an afternoon shopping in this manner tired me out so much.

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It is now the home stretch for the semester for me. After submitting a major essay on Friday and having a couple of days off over the weekend, it is time to plan the remainder few weeks to study and finish another final essay for the semester. It has again been enjoyable but it remains a struggle.

Church is feeling a little different these days. A mate of mine left for another church in search for something better for his kids, and though I am mostly contented to just be in church and return thereafter, I am starting to forge new relationships. On Sat night we were at the home of a family who are new migrants from Singapore. A third family – also from Singapore – was also there and it was good to get to know both families.

Building relationships is hard work. It can however, be rewarding. It can take a lot out of you, especially if you are like me. I am the type who prefer to be home alone reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie or a game of soccer, and sharing a meal with close friends. I believe more in spending hours with a small group of close/old friends than spreading my time over a large group of people. And yet building relationships is an essential feature of serving. We are asked to build each other up and sticking to the same group of people can at best be a guise to cover up our own propensity to avoid the harder task of building His church.

Like many things in life, building requires grit and graft. It is the slow and deliberate act of laying brick after brick. I guess it is a bit like winning the league. It will take time – game by game to win point by point – to accumulate enough points to win the title, and to win enough titles to be the best team on the land. For the second time this weekend, I have found that life does imitate art and we can draw real life lessons from the players on the stage set in the theatre of dreams.